WHEN THE OPERA CAME TO MIXED INFANTS
by Tanith Panic
Summary: A spiteful supply teacher crushes David's feelings after he writes a fantasy about his mother, who he still misses, meeting her favourite opera star. Can Dylan come to the rescue and enlist a celebrity singer to help? The celebrity is an O/C to keep within the site's guidelines.
1. Chapter 1

HOW THE OPERA CAME TO THE MIXED INFANTS

(FBG AU story based on a mix of Trekkiel's and my own Fierce Brave Gang universe. After a spiteful supply teacher hurts a lot of feelings can Dylan enlist some celebrity help to put smiles back on the kids' faces?)

"Rita, you look dreadful" Connie remarked.

"Well thank you" croaked Rita, who had a bad cold and a very sore throat.

"There's no way you can go to work for at least three days. I'll ring for a supply teacher, sweetheart, and you take it easy in the meantime."

Rita lay back in relief. Connie made her a lemon and honey drink and went to sort out the supply teacher. Rachel Elphinstone arrived at Holby Mixed Infants the next day.

She strode into the classroom with Miss Beauchamp behind her and wrote her name on the blackboard without being asked.

"It's procedure for the Headmistress to announce a new supply teacher" Connie informed her, gently but bitingly.

"Oh, sorry, dear. Take the floor."

Connie, seething inwardly, took the floor.

"This is Ms Elphinstone. She'll be in charge of the class, and teaching reading and writing, and she'll be reading your story at the end of the day. Miss Freeman has a bad cold."

Ethan's hand shot up.

"Yes Ethan?"

"Please can we make her a card in Miss Chao's class?"

"That's a lovely idea, Ethan. Of course you can."

"I'll leave you to it then, Ms Elphinstone" and with that Mrs Beauchamp was off to her study.

Lofty, knowing it was bad and rude to have a comic on the desk in lesson time, scooped his latest Alien advernture story into his satchel."

"Excuse me, dear, is that a comic you've just put away?" Ms Elphinstone asked shrilly.

Lofty nodded shyly.

"Comics at your age? Dear, oh dear."

Lofty looked crushed and David gave him a discreet little sympathy hug.

"Right, what's your name?"

"Ben Chiltern-Keogh" Lofty replied nervously.

"Well, we've learned about Ben, who obviously needs to pull up his socks a little. Oh – excuse me, dear, can you sit with the girls?"

Zoe looked scandalized.

"Please Ms Elphinstone, Max and me always sit together."

"Not in my classes. Max, go and sit with the little fair haired boy. Zoe, you sit next to the podg- um – little girl here."

Robyn burned with shame. Ms Elphinstone had been about to say 'podgy'. Zoe almost flung herself down in the seat as Max went to sit with Ethan.

The class managed to survive till playtime.

"Now if you can be back five minutes early that would be good. We've a lot to get through."

Zoe took a deep breath.

"We're allowed fifteen minutes break and it's gang meeting day."

"A gang? You have a _gang_? How nasty. There'll be no meeting; you'll play in the yard and be back five minutes early – unless you want to argue some more and spend the whole break indoors?"

The five minutes early turned out to be for writing their names on stand-up cards to put on the desk. The kids were almost desperate for lunchtime; at least it was Mr Keogh and Miss Chao in the afternoon and Ms Miseryguts couldn't spoil that.

She managed to spoil both David's and Ethan's day before then.

"Right, these are the stories you wrote that Miss Freeman wasn't able to hear. Let's see… David, you collect up all the stories and take your own. Then I want you to read it out."

David smothered a sigh and did as he was told. He read the story; already nervous, he was on the verge of tears after Ms Elphinstone had interrupted him. He'd written a story about his mum, who was no longer around, and thought it was a nice one. He was reading his favourite paragraph:

"My mum got given a ticket to the opera and her faverite singer Mr Dew Ponce came off stage to give her a kiss and hug…"

Ms Elphinstone's shrill laugh interrupted him.

"It's an opera, David, not a rock concert! And it's Du Pont, you silly little boy! An opera singer wouldn't do anything like that. And I thought Mr Keogh was fostering you? Wouldn't it have made more sense to write about going somewhere with him?"

David's eyes stung.

"My mum's died but I make up stories about her 'cause I loved her."

"Oh dear, you are living in a dream world, aren't you? Let's hear from somebody who can tell us the truth in a story. Louise, what have you written, dear?"

Lunchtime was a miserable affair with Robyn having to be coaxed to eat by Miss Honey.

"Podgy indeed. You're lovely, Robyn, and you eat healthy food so you've nothing to be ashamed of."

She reminded herself to tell Mrs Beauchamp. Mrs Beauchamp was very strict about any kind of 'body shaming' in the Mixed Infants classes.

Lofty spent most of playtime hugging David, and Zax had a brief reunion together before the dragon separated them again. But Ethan received a horrible shock. He was walking along to the fence between the Infants and Juniors when Ms Elphinstone came hurrying along.

"Where are you going, dear? Don't wander away any further."

"Please, I'm going to the fence to talk to my big brother. He's in the Juniors and comes to the fence to see I'm okay every lunch."

"Lunch _time_ , dear, and today you don't go any further away. Now you stay right here until the bell goes!"

"But-"

"You'll be spending playtime in detention, Ethan, if you cheek me once more."

At last the kids were free to go to their normal classes, but they were too upset to concentrate much.

"Ben, it's not like you to get a sum wrong. Is everything all right this afternoon?"

Ben sighed.

"Mr Keogh, is it okay for a lad as big as me to read comics?"

Ben always called his adopted dad Mr Keogh in class out of courtesy.

"Ah! Has somebody been saying it's not?"

"Miss Elphinstone, Mr Keogh, but she hurt David worse. And she wouldn't let Ethan go and talk to Cal at lunchtime."

Mr Keogh did the unthinkable. He suspended the maths lesson and asked the kids just what had been happening.

"I know I've separated Zax in my classes but that was because I needed to see how clever you both were on your own. But to do that to David… You don't live in a dream world, David, you have a wonderful imagination! And, Ben, adults read comics. They just call them 'graphic novels' instead."

Not only did the kids feel better already but Nemesis was also striding towards Ms Elphinstone in high heels.

"You sent for me, Mrs Beauchamp?"

"I certainly did! I had Caleb Knight coming to see me at lunchtime to ask if his little brother was all right. I let Ethan go and speak to Cal because he doesn't have to go out of school grounds to go to that fence."

"It's not good to make children clingy, dear-"

"Cal and Ethan were abused by their father as children! Ben Chiltern-Keogh, who you picked on for being in possession of a comic, which he was putting away before class because he's a polite little boy, was bruised and kicked by his alcoholic mother and David Hide almost got pneumonia when his grandmother, who is in a care home with dementia, left him to freeze in a public playground."

"I'm sorry… I'll make allowances tomorrow."

"I shan't be wanting you tomorrow, Ms Elphinstone. We can rearrange the classes so I can make sure that only teachers I trust will be working here in future!"

Connie smiled and added:

"Is that understood, _dear_?"

Ms Elphinstone turned on her heel and left.

"Mrs Beauchamp wants everybody to go to the school hall" Ms Chao told the class, "I'll put all these lovely messages away safely and tomorrow we'll put the card together."

The kids went, wondering what they'd done wrong.

Mrs Beauchamp was smiling at them.

"I need to let you all know something urgently before you go home. Reading comics at any age is allowed. Holding Fierce, Brave Gang meetings is allowed. Using your imagination when you write a story is allowed. Ethan, going to the fence to talk to Cal at lunchtime is allowed. There's just one thing that's not allowed at Holby Mixed Infants any more."

She paused for effect and then added:

"Ms Elphinstone!"

The kids laughed and applauded and went home feeling a lot happier.

Mr Keogh, however, was still not happy the next day. He'd overheard David and Ben chatting in bed; he tried not to snoop as a rule but he was still worried about David. David had asked if the boys could just have a man-hug instead of making up a robber story. Ben, always kind, had readily agreed.

But Dylan wasn't happy. When children were afraid to use their imagination something was badly wrong.

The advertisement he saw in the paper leapt out at him later. Marc Du Pont. That was the name David had put in his story. David had been so proud of the story when he'd shown it to Dylan two nights ago.


	2. Chapter 2

THE OPERA COMES TO HOLBY TWO

Dylan's thought as he picked up the phone was "Well here goes nothing." But he wanted to try, not just for David, but for all the kids who had been crushed by Ms Elphinstone the previous afternoon.

"Hello, have I reached the Coliseum in London? I wonder if it's possible to speak to Mr Du Pont please."

"I am his personal assistant. He is a very busy man."

Dylan's heart sank. From the PA's frosty tone things didn't look good.

"I'm Dylan Keogh, a teacher at Holby Mixed Infants school and I was wondering-"

"Mr Du Pont does not send photographs on request. Nor does he-"

A quiet voice interrupted:

"Sabine, please pass me the phone."

Dylan waited, holding his breath. Then:

"I am Mr Du Pont. You say you are from an Infants school?"

"Yes; one of my pupils wrote a story about you and a supply teacher we had at the time hurt his feelings and told him he was living in a dream world. He's gone back into his shell since then. If you could send a photo or a short note-"

"No. I shall do none of those things."

Bloody Prima Donna, thought Dylan despairingly. Then he realised Mr Du Pont was still speaking.

"I do have an idea, though, that would be nice for your children and good publicity for myself. Could you come to London to speak with me tomorrow?"

Dylan forced himself to croak out:

"Yes… what time… you'll send a _car_?"

Rob Pike was introduced by Mrs Beauchamp and lots of small hearts sank. Another supply teacher. David and Lofty knew their dad had had to go to London to talk about tax issues, and hoped this teacher would be a little kinder.

"This is Mr Pike, who will be your supply teacher today in Mr Keogh's absence. He'll be teaching your sums class and doing playground duty."

Rob smiled round.

"Hi, kids."

"Now, if there are seven goblins down the mine of doom, plus the Wizard they've kidnapped and his mysterious cat and brave dog, how many people are down the mine of doom altogether? Yes, Ethan?"

"Ten, Mr Pike."

"And it's a gold star for Ethan and that means you get one of my lists of tables with the funky cover, Ethan!"

Ethan grinned shyly and held out his hand. The funky cover was all the colours of the rainbow. He couldn't wait to show Cal… if Mr Pike let him.

Mr Pike looked at Zoe and Max who were back sitting together.

"Zoe and Max, Miss Beauchamp says you like to sit together and you're big friends, right? Can I have your promise that I can trust you not to copy?"

Zax put their hands on their hearts, Fierce Brave Gang style and promised.

"Fine, guys!"

Robyn's heart hurt a little. Mr Pike had been lovely, more like a wonderful sea turtle than a nasty snappy fish like his name, but he'd be gone again tomorrow when Mr Keogh was back from sorting out his taxes. Jess and Jeff liked Mr Pike, but had to admit they preferred Mr Keogh's grumpy kindness. Mr Pike was nice to everybody but if Mr Keogh said they'd done well, they knew they really had.

Ethan hadn't been questioned at playtime when he'd gone to the fence to talk to Cal, who promised him to help him put a backing on his new tables chart when they got home later.

Dervla, who had been banished to doggy day care, and had been picked up later than normal, made such a fuss of Dylan when he got back home with Ben and David in tow, that she almost knocked the three of them over. Ben and David didn't mind; their dad had come home smiling from London and said all his taxes were just fine now. David felt confident enough to tell a new robber story to Ben in bed, and this one was about robbers trying to break into the houses of Parliament and trying to steal all the tax lists.

"You boys asleep yet?" Dylan shouted to them.

"Er… David's just telling me a new story."

"Okay but I want you to settle down and get some sleep. It's going to be a big day at school tomorrow."

"Really?"

"Major maths test to see how much you've been missing me" said the wicked Mr Keogh.

The boys knew it wasn't a major maths test when Mrs Beauchamp told them all not to leave the hall after assembly.

"Now how many of you have heard of an opera singer called Marc Du Pont?"

Only one or two children, including David, were able to raise their hands.

"Well, he's coming to the school next Monday. We're going to have a week devoted entirely to Opera all week. On Monday Mr Du Pont will be in charge of you all so I want you all to be as good as gold. The rest of the week will be normal lessons but they'll all be based on opera. Miss Honey's going to give all the meals opera names all week. Then on Friday Mr Du Pont will come back because he's going to give out the prizes to some competitions he's going to announce on Monday. Yes Jacob?"

"Please Mrs Beauchamp, isn't opera dead grim and miserable and goes on for hours?"

"Well you'll have to see what you think at the end of next week, Jacob. But I expect you all to behave."

The kids all felt a little flat as they filed into the yard to be collected or seen home. They really weren't sure about a whole day being lectured about dreary old Opera, and on the worst day possible, a Monday. Only David and Ben were happy and Ben's happiness was for David, because didn't this prove David wrote stories about real things as well as 'maginary ones? If Mr Du Pont could come to the school, then he could have just as easily gone to kiss David's mum when she went to see him.

But what would the next week bring?


	3. Chapter 3

THE OPERA COMES TO HOLBY THREE

The kids discussed Mr Du Pont as they walked through the playground a little more slowly than usual.

"I think he must be a bit nice-looking because my mum wanted a hug and kiss off him" David volunteered.

"I bet he's old and doddery and nobody can understand a word he's saying because of his accent and squeaky voice" Louise sighed.

Robyn hoped Mr Du Pont wasn't the kind who shamed kids in public if they were a bit chubby. She kept her thoughts to herself because Ms Elphinstone's mean comment had cut deep into the little girl's heart.

"We'll have a 'Mergency meeting at break and vote if he's a good guy or a bad guy" Zax declared.

"Supposing he says 'no breaks, no lunch, you've got to listen to ME" sighed Ethan.

"We'll all do mean drawings of him at home and have a competition for the meanest one if he's like that" Lofty giggled.

"Excuse me, please can you tell me where to find Mrs Beauchamp's study?" came a quiet voice behind them.

Just then, Rita, now much better, came hurrying up. She addressed the man who had just spoken.

"Mr Du Pont? My name's Rita Freeman; I'm the English and reading teacher. I've come to escort you to Mrs Beauchamp's study."

"Thank you" came a foreign- accented, but not too old, voice.

We're all dead, thought the kids as they trudged even more unhappily towards school.

After reading out the usual school notices, she introduced Mr Du Pont. He smiled round at all the kids who were sitting on the floor of the school assembly hall.

"Now, I am a mind reader and I have read your minds" he said seriously, "You are thinking 'why do we have to listen to this boring man all day who will just talk about Opera until we all want to be sick."

He pulled a comical being sick face and the kids couldn't resist giggling in relief.

"Now, my job is not to talk. My job is to give you things to do all day that hopefully you will find fun. There will be music played thanks to my kind assistant here-" he indicated a bearded man who was setting up a sound system – but you will only be listening to each bit of music once. Then you will be moving around the stage. And for anybody who was worried that there will not be breaks, of course there will be! I am looking forward to lunch because I shall be able to taste Miss Honey's cooking! Now, a little about our first opera. This is Faust which is the story of a foolish man who sells his soul to the devil which as we know can only cause misery in the end. In the middle of the story there is a march, and the soldiers all come home from the war. But one poor soldier is not alive! He was killed in the war and his comrades are carrying him back to his family home. Now, we want somebody small and light to be carried-" he read the large name badge on Ethan's T shirt; Ms Chao had made one for every child in the class – "So Ethan, will you act the part of our fallen soldier?"

Ethan nodded in great excitement.

"So, now you shall hear the march you shall be moving to."

The kids expected the music to be miserable but it was a happy tune.

"Okay, so now we must have soldiers – that will be most of you, as girls too can play soldiers."

Mr Du Pont went round the class. He looked at Robyn sadly.

"No, my dear, you cannot be a soldier."

Robyn felt her heart sinking. She was going to be told she was too big. Then Mr Du Pont flicked her hair very gently.

"Lovely flame coloured hair like this is wasted on a soldier, so you must be the town beauty, Robyn. You must sit on this chair up on this platform and wave to the soldiers as they come home. You are a naughty girl who knows she is pretty and you wave and smile at all the regiment. Apart from the ones who are mourning their friend, the soldiers will all fall in love with you; they will wave and grin at you."

Robyn wanted to cry for a different reason and fell in love with Mr Du Pont on the spot.

"Now, who can do some good dramatic acting? I need another lady."

He smiled at Jess.

"Jess, I want you to cry because you are Ethan's mother in our story and he has been killed in the battle. Okay? And now we want a happy man. I think that shall be you, Jacob. You are the innkeeper and you can foresee a big day for sales because the soldiers have come home. You try to look sad for Ethan's sake but you can't help grinning because you might be rich! Okay, now it doesn't matter if you don't quite move to the music but show me what you can do!"

The music began again and everybody who hadn't been given a special part marched across the stage. Ethan kept as still as a mouse; Robyn smiled and flirted and Jess wept beautifully. Jacob managed to get a little victory dance into his act as the innkeeper.

"Bravo!" Mr Du Pont shouted at the end of the music. Now we shall try that one more time and then we shall discuss what the devil might look like if he were around today. You'll need to know about it because I believe the devil is just one of the choices to draw in Miss Chao's class tomorrow."

Mr Du Pont whispered something in Jess's ear just before the music started again. As Jacob did his little victory dance, Jess stalked across the stage and mimed boxing Jacob's ears in rage.

"Now we shall discuss what the devil looks like and then I am giving you fifteen minutes extra break because I heard a rumour that the Fierce, Brave Gang might want to discuss this Opera day in their meeting!"

Fancy Mr Du Pont knowing about the Gang! And there was an even funnier moment to come. When the class were asked what they thought the devil looked like, Ethan raised his hand and said:

"Um, I think he'd look like Donald Trumpet."

Mr Du Pont laughed for a very long time and then told Ethan he was a hero.

The meeting was a very happy one; everybody voted in favour of Mr Du Pont. The rest of the morning went really well; the kids learned about an Opera called The Magic Flute.

"I need to ask you, Ben, if you read Alien comics?" Mr Du Pont addressed Lofty, who wanted to die of shame as he nodded.

"All the best people of all ages read comics. And these comics will help you now because they will help you visualise the big monster that threatens the young prince at the beginning of Magic Flute. Oh, he is scary! Can you see him, Ben, his nasty dripping fangs and his mad eyes?"

Lofty nodded.

"I think he's like a dragon except he's got two extra arms."

After that Max was asked to mime to a funny part of the story. A man called Papageno, who wears feathers because his job is to catch birds, pretends he has killed the terrible monster when in fact it was three brave ladies. As a punishment he has a padlock put on his mouth so he cannot chatter. When the music came on for Max to mime to he had to make "umm ummm ummm" noises and stamp his foot in temper because he couldn't speak.

"Does he get his voice back?" asked David hopefully.

Mr Du Pont explained that not only did Papageno get his voice back but in the end was introduced to a pretty girl called Papagena who would be his wife. Zoe was called forward to mime to their duet together with Max.

"And we shall be really naughty here; you may kiss at the end" they were told.

"Zax kiss!" Noel grinned.

Max and Zoe enjoyed miming because they didn't have to keep up with the words, just flap their arms like wings and shake their bottoms like birds do. The Zax kiss got a big cheer and then it was time for lunch.


	4. Chapter 4

OPERA WEEK CONTINUED

To the kids' surprise, Mr Du Pont hadn't been joking about the canteen. He walked in with the kids as if he'd been going there for weeks and joined the back of the queue even though the kids tried to persuade him to go to the front. Miss Honey had done everybody proud, with a notice on the door "Opera Feast – Carmen get it."

The menu board said "Carbonara Traviata, Symphonic Salad or Lasagne Verdi."

Robyn was torn; she wanted to have her favourite Carbonara but after Ms Elphinstone's comment felt it should be salad.

"Hi, Robyn, love. Why not have the Carbonara with some salad today?"

Robyn grinned and held out her plate.

"Not that this lovely lady needs salad but it is so nice with pasta" Mr Du Pont commented.

"Please will there be time for me to go to the fence and talk to our Cal?" Ethan asked him.

"No, there is no going to the fence today."

"Oh… okay."

"Why should you want to go to the fence to speak to Cal when here he is to eat with us all?"

Mr Du Pont waved his arm and bang on cue, Cal came out of Miss Honey's kitchen to sit with Ethan.

It was a lovely informal meal, during which Mr Du Pont spoke to David, who had gone a little shy again:

"Now this afternoon we must find you a role, David, you have not yet had your turn. You can do something with Ben because he is your friend."

David said trustingly:

"He's my friend but I pretend he's my secret brother."

"Ah, there is an opera story about a man with a secret brother, but it is a very sad story. Because of a tragic thing that happened when the boys were small, the bad guy does not know the hero is his brother and he has him beheaded."

"Oh NO!" David and Ben chorused in genuine horror.

"So, there is your project for writing day… should you choose to accept. I will give you an outline of this story and you and Ben shall create a happy ending between you!"

David and Ben high-fived.

Cal thanked Mr Du Pont for inviting him to the feast during dessert, which offered a choice of Miss Honey's home-made sugar free mousses or a fresh fruit salad.

The kids were in a really good mood when they filed back into the hall.

"There will be a lot of moving around later so for now I am going to play you a short film to let you relax after our fine lunch. There is no singing but the music and the story are easy."

The story was 'Peter and the Wolf'. It was about a brave boy who trapped a bad wolf and it was sent away to the zoo. All the animals shown had their own little theme tune. Ben liked the one for the cat, he thought Eric Chiltern would like to strut round to it. The cat and bird were too clever to be caught but the poor vain duck was caught and eaten by the wolf. Ethan wanted to cry and was biting his lip hard. But at the end the duck's music played and the man telling the story on the film said that because the wolf had been so greedy he had swallowed the duck alive. Then, even better, the wolf gave a giant sneeze and the duck was seen flying through the air then landing, unhurt but very puzzled, in her pond. Ethan was able to laugh and clap along with the others.

The next part was spent discussing stories that would make good operas or music films.

"Now an early break because we have a lot to do later" Mr Du Pont said. Zax walked up to him nervously.

"Please Mr Du Pont, have you time to come to our hut? We want to make you an honory member of the gang."

Mr Du Pont smiled and asked his assistant to set up the music while he was gone.

He was brilliant and recited the Gang Promise, hand on heart, just perfectly but wouldn't take a Gang Gift.

"There will be plenty of gifts for me when I come back on Friday and get to read all your stories and see your drawings."

When they came back in and the kids sat down again, Mr Du Pont's assistant gave him a suitcase. At first the kids were worried because the singer pulled it open and threw ladies clothes all over the floor.

"Now, who has heard of an Opera called Carmen?"

A few hands.

"Okay, well, it's about a young woman who causes trouble with a capital T because she is a wild one. She has got herself mixed up with a gang of smugglers and persuaded her boyfriend to join them too, and here they are, hiding out in the mountains. They are ready to bring the goods down the mountain but three customs guards have been spotted. Carmen tells them not to worry, she and her friends will flirt with the customs men and the gang will be able to sneak past with the swag! Now what I want to see is the men in the gang taking the Mickey out of the ladies. I want three boys – I would like David, Ben and Jacob, if they would be so kind – to put on the ladies clothes in really silly ways – like this, for example-"

He put a bra on his head so it looked like an old flying helmet. The kids burst out laughing.

"So we will play this song once and then the next time I want my three friends here to do silly things with the clothes to make us all laugh. Now Jess shall be Carmen and all the other ladies shall be her friends. You must end up chasing the boys round trying to get the clothes back off them!"

Ben, David and Jacob had a wonderful time. Ben put on an old necklace from the pile and wore it round his waist, swinging it about like a set of keys on a chain, pretending to bash himself with it. Jacob stepped into a pair of huge panties and strutted about with them over his trousers. David put a blouse on over his head but instead of putting his head through the opening, kept his head covered up and wiggled his hands about so he looked like a spook.

Everybody was falling about at the end of the song.

"It is nearly time for our day to be over" said Mr Du Pont. To his delight the kids groaned. But Mr Du Pont continued:

"Now, it is with great regret that I can find no role for Mr Keogh's famous Dog but she will always remind me of one of my favourite composers, Offenbach. Because Mr Keogh says she often barks when he's trying to get some sleep! You will recognize this music and your only task, my friends, is to dance to it. And here to help you out are your exercise teachers!"

Miss Dixon and Mr Dean ran in. The kids howled with laughter; they had little ballet skirts over their tracksuits.

The music started; it was the can-can and everybody went wild, dancing and high-kicking. Even Mr Du Pont teamed up with Mr Dean and Miss Dixon to high-kick.

Mrs Beauchamp came in at the end of the music.

"Now I hope you'll all give Mr Du Pont a nice clap for coming to see us all. We'll see him again on Friday when he judges our writing and drawing competitions, but for now I'd like you to thank him Holby Mixed Infants style!"

The applause was almost deafening and Mr Du Pont did a little bow at the end and said he'd had a brilliant day too.

"I shall see you again on Friday but one more person needs applause right now; the person who phoned me to make all this happen. My friends - I give you Mr Keogh!"

Mr Keogh, red as a beetroot but smiling, came into the hall.

"Dad?" David and Ben gasped together.


	5. Chapter 5

OPERA WEEK – THE FINALE

David and Lofty had never been so proud of their dad. All the way out of the school yard that night they chanted "Our dad's a star, our dad's a star."

"I could tell how that Ms Goblinstone or whatever her name was had upset you and wanted to make things better again" Dylan told them.

"You did, dad! And Mr Du Pont was brilliant. We've got to work hard when we get home and think of that happy ending story he wants us to do!"

"Not tonight, you aren't. That's for school time. What we're doing tonight is going straight to the Cine complex to watch that latest Minions film from here, picking up a chip supper on the way home and then you get half an hour for your guts to settle before bed."

The boys beamed. Their dad had invented a new phrase 'chip supper' and they loved it. But Minions first!

David's voice floated through the wall of the houseboat.

"The robbers kidnapped Ms Elphinstone but nobody would pay for her to be fetched back. They didn't kill her because they weren't evil bad, but she had to cook and clean for them till she was too old and she never once got a chip supper out of them."

"And they had Minions DVDs but they put Ms Elphinstone in the other room and put earplugs on her so she couldn't enjoy them one bit!"

Dylan smiled slowly. Even when dealing with a hated teacher, his two couldn't be entirely vicious.

Every day of the week at Mixed Infants was dedicated to the Opera. Ms Chao let them draw their favourite scenes from the stories they'd been told about. Mr Keogh asked more opera-related maths problems:

"So, Robyn, there were fifty village soldiers went to the war. One was killed and six were taken prisoner. How many actually came home safely?"

Robyn was nearly caught out until she remembered that being taken prisoner meant you didn't get to go home, maybe never.

"Forty three, Mr Keogh."

"So Mr Pike's left his amazing Funky timetable charts with me – why anybody would actually want one of these things I do not know, but here you go, Robyn. Well done."

Miss Freeman allowed the kids to pair up to write stories in her class, which thrilled both David and Ben, and Zax. Mr Du Pont had been very careful with the story of Trovatore for Ben and David, realising how it would have distressed the class to think of a baby being thrown into a fire so he typed up a different version where the angry gypsy lady had tried to stab one of the little boys, but he'd run away and hidden. The other, who everybody thought was the Count's son, had been taken back home to his father by the soldiers. Later, the gypsy lady, realising the little lad who'd fled had been her own little boy after all, had looked after him ever since.

The ending was almost as dramatic as Trovatore itself:

"The pretty lady who had promised to marry Count di Luna was going to take poison instead, so when the Count became a goodie and said Manrico could be his brother again, they both had to run to rescue her. Hooray, they knocked the glass out of her hand just in time and Count Di Luna said to her:

'I have been bad, but now I shall work on making the peasants happy.' He said to Manrico: 'You are my beloved brother and you can have a big celebrity wedding to Leonora.' So that happened, and Count Di Luna found a gorgeous bridesmaid and fell in love with her and there was joy all round. The best doctor in the land saved the gypsy lady from a nasty illness and she promised not to menace little boys any more."

Mr Dean and Miss Dixon found all the happy, noisy bits of opera and dance music for the kids to do exercises to all week.

But one of the biggest surprises came on Dervla day:

"Now Dervla's dressed up as a lady who's going to the opera today. You lot all have to be respectful and call her Miss Dervla."

Dylan couldn't believe he'd just said that, but out of his mouth it had come. What was even more amazing was the fact that he'd clipped a pink fascinator onto his beloved dog's collar.

"My goodness, your dog looks fine, Mr Keogh" smiled Elle, the lady in the gift shop.

She kept him talking as long as possible and by that time, kind Mr Fairhead who had supposedly come on the walk 'because he needed the exercise' had helped the class buy the stationery set that looked like real leather, for a present for Mr Keogh for Friday. Mr Fairhead spirited the set away into his shopping bag before Mr Keogh could suspect a thing.

Friday finally arrived and Mr Du Pont returned. He read out the names of the winning entries in all the competitions:

"Art Class - The prize for best drawing goes to Louise Tyler for her picture of Carmen!"

Ethan's heart sank. He'd tried and tried with the picture of the monster from The Magic Flute which had a big prawn's head and a dragon's scaly body. He didn't want to look like a bad loser, and applauded Louise as hard as he could.

"Art Class – prize for the best fantasy drawing goes to Ethan Hardy for his picture of the monster from The Magic Flute."

Ethan almost raced up to collect his prize, which was a book token that could also be used for games or DVD's.

To his delight, he saw Cal sitting in the front row of the seats in the hall, clapping hard.

"Crafts Class – prize for the soft toy version of the monster from Magic Flute goes to Robyn Miller."

Robyn's legs could hardly carry her, she was so delighted and surprised, especially when Mr Du Pont smiled:

"Ah, the flame-haired lady is clever as well as beautiful!"

The prizegiving went on. Lofty and David crossed their fingers and hoped when the writing class prizes were announced. There were four of these; Jess and Jeff won one for their joint essay about "The dangers of a smuggler's life" based on Carmen. The other was won by Jacob who wrote a quite frightening story about how you should never sell your soul to the devil.

"Now our fictional essays. We asked you to write either a happy ending to a sad story or a fictional story of what happened next. Our winners for the happy ending are Ben Chiltern and David Hide with a lovely reinvention of 'Trovatore'.

David and Ben blushed as their story was read out and when Mr Du Pont handed them their prize. They were happy that it was one book token between the two of them; it made them feel like real brothers."

"And now, the 'what happens next' story: the prizewinners for this are Zoe Hanna and Max Walker – known, I believe, as Zax. This is what happens next in The Magic Flute."

Mr Du Pont read out the story. Sarastro the good enchanter had given Papageno a truth spell to keep him out of trouble, but it had caused big problems. He'd been fine for a while, even though he'd had to run away from people quickly when they didn't like what he told them. But the story ended in real disaster for him:

"So finally, Papageno and Papagena were invited to a Grand Ball at Sarastro's palace. Papagena got herself a new dress and on the day of the ball she asked:

"Papageno, does my bum look big in this?"

"Well actually it does; it looks massive" he replied sadly.

She whacked him over the head and now he's looking for a new girlfriend. Will it be YOU?"

The laughter and applause made Zax blush and grin.

Then Mr Du Pont announced a special prize:

"To Mr Keogh from his pupils for giving us all a lovely day."

Mr Keogh, trying to look cross and failing miserably, came on to the stage to get his prize. Few people had seen Mr Keogh tongue-tied and blushing before. Lofty and David had never been more proud of their dad.

"And now, one more little treat for you all. This is from an opera called The Marriage of Figaro. Now the Count in the story has a pretty housemaid called Susanna-" Miss Freeman, in a maid's outfit, ran on to the stage – and a severe housekeeper called Marcellina" - Mrs Beauchamp stalked on stage in a very severe-looking suit – "And these two ladies do NOT like each other. This is what happens one day when they meet in the big mansion where they work."

Connie and Rita had been practicing all week and mimed to the aria perfectly. The words were quite insulting to each of them, and each section ended with Miss Freeman singing to Mrs Beauchamp:

"You mangy old parakeet, get back in your cage!"

At the end they pretended to pull each other's hair, then ended up hugging and laughing at all the applause.

Lofty and David floated home on a high. They'd won a book token to share; their story had been liked by Mr Du Pont and best of all, the fun week they'd had had been due to their brilliant dad.

The shadow of Ms Elphinstone had well and truly evaporated.


End file.
